Heart of Gold
by Eaven White
Summary: A sequel of sorts to Heart of Fire by Soren Cantus Trea is determined to become Ranna's friend, despite multiple warnings of danger.
1. Chapter 1

Trea rushed through the hall, glancing at the signs as she passed. Where was the lunch room!? The school could not be that big! Then she saw it, a big sign over double doors "lunch room."

She bounded down the hall but was stopped as she toppled over a young man, and landed on the floor.

"Ow!" she yelped as she hit the ground landing on her bottom. She brushed her hair out of her face, tucking her green streak behind her ear. The guy she had run into was staring at her like he had never seen a girl before.

Trea suddenly realized that she had knocked into him. "Oh, I am so sorry! I didn't mean to knock into you; I just got lost and finally saw the sign for the lunchroom and wanted to hurry and get something to eat before it was over—"

She broke off when the lunchroom door slammed against the wall as a dark girl with a red streak in her hair stalked out. She spared a side look at Trea and the strange boy on the ground then kept stalking down the hall where she entered room and disappeared. This girl obviously did not have too many friends, she was to silent, Trea could tell that much just by looking at her. Dark hair, dark clothes, red streak. This girl stayed away from people.

"Who's she?" Trea asked the boy.

"Ranna." He said with a touch of longing, that no one but Trea would have noticed. "Don't bother trying to be her friend. She's not the type." He said that as if he were trying to warn her, but even though Trea caught subtle hints of longing, she missed the outright warning of danger.

"Nonsense," Trea smiled as she stood and offered her hand to the young man, who ignored it and stood up on his own.

"Everyone is the friend type." She continued. "Someone just has to be brave enough to be pesky. I'm Treasa by the way. Not Teresa, Treasa. Trea for short. You know like that thing in the front of the school, the big one with lots of shade—"

She broke off as the boy turned and almost ran away. He obviously needed some friends too, or maybe he just didn't like her.

Oh well, she walked into the lunch room and got her lunch, then looked around for a spot to sit. There was an empty table to her right, but she waltzed right past it and sat down next to a group of people.

They all looked up surprised. Trea smiled. "Hey guys, My name is Treasa. Well, actually I go by Trea. You know like an actual tree? Well anyway, just call me Trea. Who are you guys?" She stuffed some bread in her mouth and began to chew as she looked up expectantly.

The teens looked at each other then smiled at her.

"I'm Will," the boy closest to her said, "And this is Layla, Ethan, Magenta, and Zach. Oh and Warren is over getting some lunch."

Trea followed his finger and turned to see the boy she had run into earlier. "Warren? So he does have friends…"

"What?" Will asked, clearly confused.

Trea looked back to him, "Oh… sorry I was just debating on whether he didn't have friends or just didn't like me! Looks like he just does not like me, guess I will have to change that!" She smiled and then got up and walked out of the Lunch room.

The room turned out to be the Library. Trea looked around and saw her, what was her name? Ranna. Trea smiled, walked up to her table and set her books down across from Ranna and sat down.

"Hey," she whispered rather loudly, "I'm Trea! Well actually my name is Treasa, not Teresa, Treasa, but I like to go by Trea so you can just—"

"Are you finished?" Ranna asked, rather monotone as she flipped between pages in a book and then wrote something down.

Trea leaned back in her chair. "Well now that you mention it, I don't think I am. Did you know I have never been to a school before? I actually have never even seen this many people in one place before! You know, people take other people for granted, it is really hard to find a true friend especially when there are so many people out there who just want to hurt you. For instance, I can bet you $10 you really wish you could use your powers on me right now, but we both know that if you did… it will be Isolation for both of us, and there is no way I am ending up in there on my first day!"

"If you don't stop talking now, there won't even be any ashes of you left to put in the isolation room." Ranna said this all very quietly, still not looking up from her notes.

Trea smiled wider, well at least she was talking. "Ah, so you are a flamer… cool! You know I knew a flamer once, he was a hot head, he couldn't even control it! But you know… I…am gonna stop now." Ranna had glanced up from her notes and the phrase "if looks could kill" ran through Trea's mind.

Ranna went back to her note taking, and Trea stood up. "Well, I will see you later, Ranna! Maybe at the rooming assignments!"

Trea stood among the group of people waiting to hear which room they would be in.

"The dorms are new this year and we are pleased to say many of you will be able to stay here, and not in the kitchen any longer!" Principle Powers announced over the megaphone.

As she glanced around, Trea caught a glimpse of someone standing by themselves, just a bit away from everyone else. _Honestly, she needs to be more conspicuous!_ Trea thought as she trudged over to Ranna.

She was standing under a tree obviously bored with the matters at hand, or maybe she just did not care, she was _still_ scribbling away at her notebook.

"You sat over here so it would be easier for me to find you, huh? How nice!" Trea sat down next to Ranna, ignoring the annoyance rolling off of her like a wave. "Who do you think you will room with? I don't know who I will, because I only know about…" She flicked her fingers up one by one. "Seven people and I see only you here waiting to get a room, so I guess I hope I get to room with you." Trea leaned back against the tree, smiling to herself. She had never known so many people before, let alone talked to that many at once. She trailed her fingers through her orange hair.

"Treasa Evans, room 576 bed A. Ranna Sorenson, room 576 bed B. Hernrietta Long, room 578 bed D" Principle Powers listed off the names of the students.

Trea jumped up smiling. "See Ranna, 'when you wish upon a star!'" She gathered her stuff and grabbed Ranna's hand, towing both along with her as she pranced toward the dorm room.

The door was decorated with a sign that said "Evans & Sorenson" and a peep hole. Trea turned the knob and the door opened to a kitchenette and dining room. She dropped her stuff, and Ranna, on the mat by the front door and bolted down the hall. A bathroom and a bedroom. The bathroom was a decent size with a shower/tub. The bedroom was big, with two beds and two desks. Trea smiled, it looked like they were going to get to know each other very well this year.

She bounded back to the dinning room. "One bathroom and one bedroom, but two beds. This is going to be fun, Ranna!" She plopped down on the couch. Ranna was still standing where Trea had left her, glaring at the floor.

"Is something wrong?" Trea asked sitting up slightly.

Ranna's shoulders tensed and she looked up at Trea. "Ever touch me again, and I will fry your hide." Then she turned and walked into the bedroom, slamming the door.

Trea sat with her knee's against her chest. She opened a book and took out a pencil. "Sometimes people don't know what they want." She wrote. "So they can't ask for it. Everyone needs a friend, even if they don't think they do. We can't do everything alone." She closed the book and followed Ranna into the room.


	2. Chapter 2

`Trea walked into class. Even though she had talked to some people she still did not know very many people. Who would she sit next to in class?

Warren was sitting in one of the middle rows but the boy, Will, from lunch yesterday was sitting next to him. Ha! Ranna was sitting by herself in the back of the class room. Trea grinned and sauntered past warren, who gave her a look of warning, and sat down next to Ranna.

"Hello, Roomie! Look now we even get to sit together in our AP classes!" Trea took out her notebook and a pen and began to doodle on the edge of the paper.

She heard Ranna sighed softly, but other than that did not seem to notice or care that Trea was sitting next to her.

"You could at least mumble hi or something…. Instead of just ignoring me." She looked up hopefully, Ranna turned her head and glared at her.

"See!" Trea smiled, "It is not to hard to acknowledge me, even a glare means you know I am here!" She went back to her doodles, which involved many swirls and T's.

Class progressed on, and somehow Ranna seemed to ignore Trea even while working with her as a lab partner.

As she poured some lithium into a beaker, Trea bumped Ranna's arm causing her to knock over the concoction, dumping it on Trea and Ranna.

"AH!" Trea jumped up out of her seat and tried to brush the stuff off of her. Ranna stood up also, but calmly set fire to her apron, burning it away. Trea jumped around, flailing her arm as she tried to brush the liquid off of her.

"Stop that," Ranna snapped. She grabbed Trea's wrist with one hand, her other hand was holding a writhing flame. The flame moved towards Trea's arm.

"What are you doing? Stop! STOP!" Trea screamed trying to wriggle away from Ranna's flame.

"Stop moving." Ranna demanded moving closer to Trea. Her flaming hand hovered over Trea's arm, not quite touching, burning the chemical. Trea relaxed when she realized Ranna was not going to burn her, and was only trying to help.

Principle Powers marched into the science lab. "Evans, Sorenson. Follow me please." She turned on her heel and walked out of the room, obviously expecting them to follow.

Trea smiled at Ranna. "Shall we go?" They walked out of the room, down the empty hallways, Principal Powers' heels clicking loudly. They reached the detention room, Ranna and Trea slipping slowly in.

"Rules are set here for a purpose. I expect you to follow those rules closely. No exceptions." She frowned and turned to walk out of the white room.

"Wait," Trea shouted after her, "you don't understand! We--"

The door closed.

"Well this is just great." Trea sat in a desk and let her head fall, hitting the desk.

The silence surrounded them as the seconds turned to minutes.

Trea lifted her head, "You know Ranna, I distinctly remember telling you I did not want to end up in detention on my first day. Sometimes—"

Ranna stood abruptly knocking the desk over. "Never speak to me again."

Trea looked up at her in disbelief. "Why?"

"I am locked up in a white, _white_ room, and it. Is. Your. Fault."

"My fault? How is this my fault?"

"You are the one who knocked into me." Ranna accused.

"Yeah but you are the one who actually knocked into it! So Ha!" Trea extended her arm and pointed her finger at her grinning.

"You are hopeless." Ranna stood her desk up again and sat down, closing her eyes.

"That is exactly what my parent's used to say. 'You're hopeless, Treasa.' I hated it when they did that." Trea pursed her lips.

"Your parent's used to say? What, did you kill them?" Ranna opened her eyes and raised her eyebrows sarcastically.

"No, I ran away." Trea put her feet up on the desk and her arms behind her head.

"You ran away? You must have lived in the slums with people who beat you or something." Ranna closed her eyes again,

"No, actually my parents were rich, but I was too weird for them and they only kept me to keep up their image, not because they wanted too. I got sick of it, so I ran away."

Trea waited for another depressing comment from Ranna, but she just went to a corner and sat down, pulling her knees close to her. So much for starting a conversation.


End file.
